The present invention relates generally to conveyors, and more particularly controls for electrically operated conveyor beds.
Conveyor systems are used in a wide variety of material handling applications. These includes such things as conveying luggage throughout airports, conveying parcels through transportation terminals, conveying manufactured parts or components throughout factories, conveying inventory, sorting and conveying items to be transported, and various other applications. Such conveying systems may use conveyors having endless belts that are rotated around end rollers to cause the top surface of the belt to move in the direction of conveyance. Such conveying systems alternatively may use conveyors having a series of rollers, selected ones of which are driven to cause articles positioned on the rollers to move in the direction of conveyance. An example of one such roller conveyor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,909 issued to Kalm et al., entitled MODULAR POWER ROLLER CONVEYOR, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Still other types of conveyors may use movable slats to transport articles, as well as other structures.
The installation and commissioning of prior conveying systems has typically been a labor-intensive process. The design and installation of prior conveying systems has often involved a great deal of custom engineering of the system in order to make the system match the physical layout of the customer's site, as well as match the conveying needs of the customer. Such custom engineering not only includes the physical aspects of the individual conveyors making up the system, but also the programming and control logic that is used to control the overall system. In addition to significant amounts of labor, such custom engineering and design requires extra time for the custom-designed parts and system components to be manufactured. The installation of conveying systems has therefore consumed a significant amount of both labor and time, all of which translate into increased costs for the customer of the conveying system. These costs, of course, are desirably reduced.
A powered roller conveyor surface includes conveyor bed sections divided into conveyor zones. Each conveyor zone may be propelled by a powered roller having an internally mounted motor for rotating that roller. This is known as a motorized roller or powered roller. Currently, the supplier of the powered rollers supplies a motor controller for each powered roller, utilizing their own controller card to handle motor communication. Generally, these motor controllers are off-the-shelf controller products, which are compatible with the powered roller. The motor controller may possess networking and diagnostic capabilities.
As noted above, one of the labor-intensive processes has been installation of controls for the conveying system. Controls may include a logic controller and a motor controller. Currently, a motor controller is connected to and controls operation of a powered roller. Generally, one powered roller is present per conveyor zone and powers the plurality of rollers in the respective zone.
FIG. 1 provides an illustration of a conventional conveying control system 10 which includes a logic controller 20 connected to and controlling a plurality of brushless motor controllers 18. Each motor controller 18 is connected to and controls an associated brushless motor 12, preferably a 24 VDC brushless motor, which power a plurality of associated passive rollers 14 or slave rollers to form a zone 16 on the conveying surface. The number of slave rollers 14 in a zone is determined by how long the conveyor surface must be to accommodate the product required. The length of zone 16 is determined by the type and size of product that is to be conveyed. Motor controller 18 controls the speed, position and direction of brushless motor 12. Logic controller 20 is connected to a network 22 for communications with other logic controllers 20 and any upper level controllers. Logic controller 20 oversees the operation of a plurality of zones 16. Conventional conveying control system 10 requires wiring 13 between each brushless motor 12 and its associated motor controller 18. Additional wiring 13 is required between each motor controller 18 and logic controller 20 of conveying system 10. Currently, an electrician would wire connections between each brushless motor powered roller 12 and motor controller 18. The electrician would then connect wire 13 between each motor controller 18 to logic controller 20.
The use of powered rollers in material handling systems provides the use of power rollers and the material handling system provides the ability to accumulate in a non-touch mode where the product or containers that are moved on the conveyor and do not touch or provide during the accumulation process. Additionally, powered roller systems provide benefits such as running only when required to save energy and bear on the bearings of rollers 12, improved control over each zone in the system, lower noise levels, and improved safety from low voltage. Each brushless motor powered roller 12 may include motor cartridge (not shown) internal to a roller for propelling the respective roller either directly or through a gear reducer. Examples of such powered roller conveyor are disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,909 issued to Kalm et al., entitled MODULAR POWER ROLLER CONVEYOR and U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,714 issued to Anderson et al., entitled INTEGRATED CONVEYOR BED, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. As is known, such powered rollers 12 are available from numerous sources. The electrical interface to a powered roller 12 from one manufacturer is often different from the electrical interface of a powered roller from a different manufacturer.
Motorized rollers 12 are brushless motor powered rollers preferably, although not necessarily, constructed to contain all of the motor components within the roller itself. Examples of these types of motorized rollers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,596, entitled MOTORIZED CONVEYOR ROLLER issued to Agnoff and U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,127, entitled EXTERNAL-ROTOR TYPE DRUM MOTOR issued to Adelski et al., the disclosures of which are both hereby incorporated herein by reference. Any type of motorized roller 12 may be used in the present invention. Motorized roller 12 may advantageously be a 48-volt motorized roller. 48-volt motorized rollers provide more power than conventional 24-volt motorized rollers. Motorized roller 12 may also include braking type rollers. Motorized rollers 12 may be 48-volt, direct drive motorized rollers of the type disclosed in commonly assigned German Patent Application Serial No. 10324664.9 filed May 30, 2003, entitled ROLLERS AND ROLLER MOTORS, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Therefore, it is highly desirable to reduce material costs, the amount of time and labor involved in these tasks.